Waving the Tricolour along with the flags of the three clubs, a group of football lovers also sang the national anthem amid chants of ‘We want justice’.
IMAGE: East Bengal and Mohun Bagan supporters protest the rape and murder of the doctor from Kolkata, outside Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday. Photograph: Kind courtesy IFTWC – Indian Football/X
In a rare show of camaraderie, supporters of Kolkata’s football clubs and arch-rivals East Bengal and Mohun Bagan gathered near the Salt Lake stadium, the venue of the cancelled Kolkata Derby, on Sunday evening, to protest the alleged rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Braving intermittent rain, over a hundred fans initially gathered outside the stadium with placards and posters even as the season’s first Derby — a Durand Cup match between the two most-followed football clubs of the country — was cancelled with police citing concerns over the law and order situation.
Supporters of the two clubs held each other’s flags and raised slogans demanding justice for the victim’s family, with a huge contingent of the police keeping a vigil on the situation. Supporters of the Mohammedan SC, another major football club, also joined the protests a while later.
Even Mohun Bagan captain Subhasish Bose, who also plays for India, along with his wife joined the football fans in the protest.
“Certainly we demand punishment for all those involved in the savage assault and rape of the woman doctor who was on night duty at her workplace. She had to undergo unimaginable assault and was killed in the most brutal manner. I hope no other woman has to go through this ordeal,” he said.
All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey also visited the site and met the angry fans of the three clubs — known as Kolkata giants.
“It is very shameful. Law and order have completely collapsed in West Bengal. A football match could not happen… and look at police deployment, it looks like a riot is going on here,” Chaubey, also a BJP leader, told PTI-Video.
Actors Usashi Chakraborty and Rudranil Ghosh, and theatre personality Sourav Palodhi were also among the protesters.
As the protests spilled onto the busy EM Bypass and blocked the traffic, police chased the agitators with canes and detained some of them. Even though the police were somewhat successful in breaking the gathering at first, the protesters regrouped in small numbers and continued raising slogans.
The arterial road connecting the city’s northern end to the south was eventually blocked at different locations, including Kadapara, Beleghata Connector and Bengal Chemical crossings, disrupting the flow of traffic to and from the airport.
“We want justice for the sister who was gang-raped and murdered. Together, we Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammedan fans have assembled here peacefully. Why so many policemen have been deployed here? Why the match had to be cancelled? Don’t we have the right to demand justice for the victim,” asked Bittu Senapati, a Mohun Bagan supporter.
Police said prohibitory orders under section 163 of the BNSS were imposed in the area from 4 pm till midnight to prevent any disruption of peace.
IMAGE: All India Football Federation President Kalyan Chaubey at the protest site on Sunday. Photograph: Kind courtesy IFTWC – Indian Football/X
For defying the prohibitory orders, some of those who gathered here were detained, they said.
As the police tried to whisk away those detained, the football fans blocked the way of the vans. In the face of the protest, police let them go.
Palodhi said, “We only wanted to air our anger over the shocking incident. Everything cannot run smoothly, normally when the security of women is at stake.”
As the sun went down and darkness set in, more supporters of the three clubs poured in to join the protests amid the increasing intensity of the rain.
Screaming at the police, a woman dressed in Mohun Bagan’s maroon-green colours said, “Where were you when the vandals took siege of the RG Kar Hospital, and doctors, nurses and common people ran for their lives? Where were you when costly medical equipment at the hospital was being vandalised?”
Waving the Tricolour along with the flags of the three clubs, a group of football lovers also sang the national anthem amid chants of ‘we want justice’.
“We only have one demand, we want justice for the doctor and her family,” an East Bengal supporter said, holding a festoon that said, “Two clubs but one voice, justice for RG Kar.”
Police said there were intelligence inputs that attempts would be made to trigger violence during the match, because of which it was cancelled.
“We had specific information that some groups and organisations would attempt to create disturbance in the stadium,” said Deputy Commissioner of Bidhannagar Police Aneesh Sarkar, adding that 63,000 spectators were expected for the match.
“Keeping in view the safety and security of the football lovers, we took up the matter with the Derby committee and decided to cancel today’s match,” he said.
The postgraduate trainee doctor was allegedly raped and murdered while on duty at the RG Kar MCH. When a demonstration was underway against the gruesome incident in the early hours of August 15, a mob ransacked parts of the hospital.
An East Bengal fan with its red-yellow flag in hand questioned, “If so many police could be deployed to quell the demonstration, could not they provide security for the match? It is the failure of the state that the long-awaited Derby had to be cancelled.”
The demonstrations continued till late in the evening, following which the football fans dispersed on their own.
